The Desire Variable | Rewrite

⸻ FOURTEEN ⸻

Kate is being ridiculous. Lex doesn't want me. On good days, he ignores me, and on bad days, I annoy him with my antics, like earlier this afternoon. Nothing sexual about that.

"I honestly don't know where you get those crazy ideas from."

"Well, I got it from when I watched him devour you with his eyes all afternoon," she retorts, her tone confident.

"You misinterpreted."

"I did not. The man wants you, Deedee."

"Will you stop already? He's so out of my league, we might as well be on different planets."

That's when I recall the nude he received on our first encounter. Maybe it's a girlfriend, a fiancée, a wife... The answer doesn't matter. He has a woman in his life and I'm not a home breaker.

"And he already has someone," I add, hoping it'll make her drop it.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I told you about the nude, remember?"

"Oh, you sweet child of summer. This doesn't mean there's someone serious in his life."

"It still might, so shut up." I argue. I'm trying my best to remain calm and unaffected, but her words are wrenching my guts. It isn't so much the fact that Lex might want me, but rather how far from the truth she is.

She grabs me firmly and forces me to face her. "Andy, look me in the eye and tell me this. How did you know you could ask for a quarter-million and get away with it?"

The answer would only reinforce her ludicrous ideas, so I say nothing. I avert my eyes to look at the wall with a frown.

"I know you. I know you won't accept what I'm saying until his tongue is shoved down your throat. And even then, you might argue he slipped," she says as she releases me, visibly annoyed.

"I'm not that dense."

"Okay. Mind putting my theory to the test, then?" I squint my eyes at her, trying to guess where she's going with this. Not waiting for my answer, she fishes out the black dress and hands it to me. "You put this on, and then you pay attention to the way he stares at you."

"I won't."

"Why? Are you scared I'm right?"

"It isn't appropriate."

"Oh, come on! Celebrities on red carpets wear so much worse than this," she argues, rolling her eyes.

Kate and I have a sisterly relationship. We love each other but always have that rivalry, that desire to push the other to her limits. I look at the dress like it's poisonous. It isn't vulgar, since it shows no cleavage and isn't too short. It's just the back that's exposed, but that's nothing inappropriate.

I don't want to prove her right. But maybe a teeny-tiny part of me likes the idea that there might be some truth to Kate's words. But if I wear that dress, even Kevin will look at me weirdly.